U.S. President Donald Trump said he's ordered his administration to fire the commissioner of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, on the same day new data was released showing weak job growth in July. The Labor Department also sharply revised job growth for May and June down.

Washington

President Trump has ordered the dismissal of Dr. Erica McEntarfer, the commissioner of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, following recent downward revisions to job numbers in the latest employment report. Dr. McEntarfer, appointed during the Biden administration, had previously served in several federal agencies and was involved in economic policy during the pandemic recovery.

The president cited the need for accurate and unbiased jobs data as the reason for her removal, stating that important statistics must not be manipulated for political purposes. Critics argue that the move itself could be seen as politically motivated, as monthly jobs reports are routinely revised and have long been subject to debate over their reliability.

Trump orders firing of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics commissioner

President Trump has unveiled a new trade policy that affects virtually every nation as his suspension of reciprocal tariffs came to an end. Brazil is facing some of the steepest levies at 50% while almost no country's imports will be taxed less than 10%. CBS News has learned that the higher tariffs are set to take effect next week so that Customs and Border Protection has enough time to implement the new rates. And this is the latest jobs report showing hiring slowed in July. Just 73,000 new jobs were added to the U.S. labor market. Unemployment ticked up slightly to 4.2%. But even more concerning, revisions to the previous reports for the last two months. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, May and June's job numbers are roughly 258,000 less than previously reported. Let's get right on over back to CBS News Senior White House and Political Correspondent Ed O'Keefe for more on this. Ed, good to have you back so soon. So you have some breaking news coming from the White House as a result of this jobs report. What can you tell us? We hadn't heard directly yet, Tom, today from the president himself. They always remind us to check his Truth Social account for his thoughts. Right after we last spoke, he Truth Social'd this. He says that he's learned that the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics is a woman named Dr. Erica McEntarfer, who was appointed, nominated during the Biden administration, and notes that there have been revisions to monthly jobs reports before. Notably, he calls out one from March 2024 that was overstated by 818,000 and then revised again around the 2024 election. And what he says here is, we need accurate jobs numbers. I have directed my team to fire this Biden political appointee immediately. She will be replaced with someone much more competent and qualified. Important numbers like this must be fair and accurate. They can't be manipulated for political purposes. Although his critics will immediately say you've just manipulated them for political purposes by removing someone whose data you disagree with. If you're wondering, can the president do this? The answer is yes. McEntarfer is a veteran federal official who only became commissioner of labor statistics in January 2024. She previously held jobs at the Census Bureau, the Treasury Department, and at one time was on the Council of Economic Advisers in the Biden White House, advising on how to rebuild the job market after the pandemic. So she had some more direct work and experience in Biden economic policy, at least, and then had that job. So the president, the current one, saying he's going to fire a nominee from the last one who oversees these jobs reports. We should point out, Tom, monthly jobs reports have a way of being revised either up or down on a fairly regular basis. And the business community, those that track these numbers closely, have long said, you know, can we really trust this number anyway if a few months later you're going to come back and tell us, in fact, there weren't that many people hired or more people were hired than initially thought? And so what the president is doing is really adding to years of questions and criticism of how it's done, but taking that extra step that only a president can by firing the person who is in charge of this.

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New York

Trump's DOJ subpoenas New York AG Letitia James

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Moscow

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Jerusalem

Middle East Conflict

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Global Tariffs

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State of Rio de Janeiro

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Fort Stewart

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Hiroshima

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Beijing

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Kyiv

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Jackson

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Beirut

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Breakdown